Well, there is also an obligation for some of the previous work to be altered in order to produce a cleaner sprite. For instance, in my alteration, the nose was removed since it cluttered the face too much. The reason being, there was a large mouth, eyes, and jeweled pendant positioned on a small canvas of the face. Rather than add something to the face, sometimes to improve the sprite their needs to be deductions of details or simplification of concepts and color. So, although it would be nice to add-on to, rather than alter, sometimes, especially once the sprite has progressed to a certain stage, there needs to be simplification of the many great concepts so that they can be cohesive.

I think what they kinda meant was that for some parts like the balls, the shading was removed altogether. :x I don't really take it personally though- at the end of the day, it's just a game. xD I do agree that some of the modifications you did make, like the face for instance, were good.

On another note, I added to the latest sprite. Is it a head? Is it a body? Is it something else? It's up to you.